The Inquisition: When Faith Became Fear

When the Church Split in Two: The Great Schism and the Fracturing of Christian Orthodoxy

In this episode of The Unintentional Heretic, we explore the Great Schism of 1054, when the Eastern and Western churches formally split after centuries of theological, political, cultural, and linguistic tension. It is a reminder that what we often call “orthodoxy” has always been shaped by history, power, personality, and disagreement, and that the divisions we inherit are not always as inevitable as they seem. Would love to hear your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2617303/fan_mail/new]

Interview with Bishop Anne Hodges-Copple: The Truth Was There All Along: Women, Authority, and the Church’s Slow Awakening

In this episode of The Unintentional Heretic, I sit down with Bishop Anne Hodges Copple, a bishop in the Episcopal Church, to explore authority and the role of women in the church. Bishop Anne reminds us that the full dignity, calling, and leadership of women have been present from the beginning, woven through Scripture from Genesis 1 onward, and that the church is still slowly awakening to a truth God has been revealing all along. Would love to hear your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2617303/fan_mail/new]

St. Benedict and the Rule That Quietly Changed the World

This episode of The Unintentional Heretic explores St. Benedict and the Rule of St. Benedict as one of Christianity’s quiet revolutions, a way of life rooted in listening, prayer, work, humility, stability, hospitality, and shared community. In a culture shaped by speed, noise, anxiety, self expression, and constant distraction, Benedict invites us into a different rhythm, one that forms us slowly into people of deeper presence, peace, and love. Would love to hear your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2617303/fan_mail/new]

The Inquisition: When Faith Became Fear

This episode of The Unintentional Heretic explores the Inquisition as one of the most sobering examples in Christian history of what happens when faith becomes entangled with fear, certainty, institutional power, and coercion. We look at the medieval, Spanish, and Roman Inquisitions and ask how a tradition centered on the mercy and compassion of Jesus could come to justify forced conversions, torture, and even death in the name of protecting truth — and what that history still warns us about today. Would love to hear your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2617303/fan_mail/new]

Theosis: Do We Become Divine?

This episode of The Unintentional Heretic explores the ancient Christian idea of theosis — the startling belief that salvation is not merely about being forgiven or going somewhere after we die, but about humanity becoming divine by grace, participation, and communion with God. Drawing from the Eastern Church, Athanasius, Irenaeus, icons, the Transfiguration, and Gregory Palamas, the episode asks what Christianity might look like if we understood salvation less as a transaction and more as healing, transformation, and becoming fully alive in the life and love of God. Would love to hear your thoughts! [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2617303/fan_mail/new]